"... and actually enrolling & playing at Michigan" part of his comment.

"This is a program in transition, this is a program that's going back to hard-nosed, big-boy football," Brandon said. "We're in the process of putting the pieces in place to afford us to do that consistently and effectively.

There's a reason that people who have a tough time deciding tend to pick the south; it's warmer there. If you feel like you've got a lot of options that are roughly equivalent, and nothing is really standing out to you, you're probably going to go way down the list in terms of deciding factors. If you get down to weather, Cal and FSU's winters have a hell of a lot more women in bikinis than Ann Arbor.

Michigan has played in 41 bowl games in its history, compiling a record of 20–21. Before missing a bowl game in 2008, Michigan had made a bowl game 33 years in a row, the second longest streak (as of end of 2011 season) in college football history.[84] From 1918 to 1945, the Big Ten Conference did not allow its teams to participate in bowls. From 1946 to 1974, only a conference champion, or a surrogate representative, was allowed to attend a bowl, the Rose Bowl, and no team could go two years in a row, with one exception.

“True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise — the other, loyalty.”

Fiesta Bowl in '86. Arizona isn't bad by any means, but it's no recruiting hotbed. Besides that, they've played twice in Louisiana, 3 times in Texas and the rest in Cali and Florida. Those states are the top 4 in the country for talent.

I love this prevailing assumption that playing a second-tier bowl game in Florida (or anywhere else) gives Michigan a substantial recruiting bump in that area. It's nonsense. How many blue-chip recruits will lean toward Michigan because they played a game in Tampa? None.

Why would you consider this bowl crappy? We've gotten an excellent draw in SC; they'll be a great test of where we stand. IMO, it's the teams that make the bowl game, not the name, location, date, sponsor, etc. of the bowl itself.

By your logic, would the Orange Bowl be non-crappy? How would you rate the Chick-Fil-A Bowl? The Rose Bowl?

I remember Brandon Smith choosing UM..Big Will was not going anywhere but UM so his wasnt any surprise..I dont care how we get them just that we get them..we have missed out on some big oppurtunity..the Josh Garnett and Armani Reeves announcements would have been big to get..however we have an amazing class and if we hit on one of DG or LM3 i think its the cherry on top..we are solid as we stand tho

is going to come here. He didn't elaborate with specifics on-air, but said there are recent developments that led him to that view.

I also noticed on another site that supposedly Derrick Green is now saying he's interested in Miami of Florida. If he really is interested in that ongoing tire fire down in Coral Gables, it's just another sign to me that he's not coming here.

If you're going to use Sam Webb as a source, then at least make it clear that he believes we have increased our lead for Derrick Green in the past few days. His belief was that we were his leader by a mile but now he has bumped that lead up to two miles.

Fair enough; he didn't make any reference to Green this morning during the portion I caught on the radio, which is why I didn't comment on his views about Green. You're obviously more up to date on that than I am.

I assume based on what you say that Sam would dismiss the talk of Green being newly interested in Miami. I just saw on another site that Farrell is now alleging that Green is interested in FSU, but most everybody around here thinks that Farrell generally doesn't know what he's talking about.

I think Sam is the best UM football recruiting analyst around, but I don't always share his optimistic view of things.

I wonder how many commits and recruits will be swinging by practice the next few days. Many should be arriving soon for practice week at the UA All-American game, which is in St. Petersburg just over 20 miles from Tampa.

Not only will commits like Shane, LTT, McCray, Dawson, Poggi, and Kugler be there, but so will LM3, Treadwell and Isaac. I know, none of the three are likely to end up here, but I'm still holding on for a miracle. In fact, all of the M commits are playing on the same team in the game. Isaac and Treadwell are on that team as well. LM# is the lone one mentioned that is on the other team.

BTW, with Green looking at Miami, are they telling him he can get all the carries James had? Because Duke Johnson is clearly not likely to lose carries. Green could coose to be part of a tandem on a struggling team like Miami, or be the feature back at Michigan. I don't see how that's a difficult choice. Florida makes a lot more sense with Gillislee leaving.